


Reunions

by Xyriath



Category: Tortall - Tamora Pierce, Young Avengers
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-11
Updated: 2013-05-11
Packaged: 2017-12-11 13:54:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/799470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xyriath/pseuds/Xyriath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rough draft/experiment at fitting the Young Avengers into a Tamora Pierce-verse.  Probably for expansion when I have the time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reunions

Katherine ha Minch's face split into a grin as she spotted the familiar blonde head of hair, tied sensibly into a horse tail, through the most recent crowd of Queen's Riders filtering into the Heron's Wing, a well-known tavern in Patten that _shouldn't_ have been too hard to find.  Not for Cassie Lang, anyway.

 

"Cassie!" she called out, lifting her hand and waving.  The blonde head turned, and Kate could see that there was a grin on its face.

 

Turning and separating herself from the group that had accompanied her into the tavern, she made her way over to where Kate was sitting.  The grin widened when she saw that Kate had already ordered several glasses of drinks, and she slid onto the bench after Kate got up to give her room.

 

"Kate!  Sorry, the Riders got in a somewhat later than we thought we would."

 

Kate waved her hand dismissively, sitting down again as Cassie settled next to the wall.  "Don't worry about it.  Her Majesty gave me the whole day.  The _boys_ , on the other hand…"  She tsked, eyeing the door again.  "Well, maybe their knight-masters are keeping them late, but Billy has no—"

 

"There he is!"  Cassie's eyes lit up, and she half-stood to catch his attention.  Billy took a moment to notice her, glancing around the room confusedly for a few seconds before he managed to spot her.  His shy half-grin quickly turned into a beam as he hurried over .  It took them a moment to spot the second person along with him, a slightly taller, dark-haired young man who looked like he might have a few drops of Bazhir blood in him.  He, like Billy, was dressed in clothing typical of a Royal University student, but where the cut and material of Billy's indicated someone of high birth, this young man's was rather more… average.

 

His looks were much more than average, however, both of the girls noticed with raised eyebrows.

 

Cassie stared a bit longer than Kate, who had turned her attention back to Billy.

 

"Hey, guys, sorry I'm—we're a bit—Jonas, uh—"

 

"My apologies."  The other boy inclined his head in a bow, the very picture of penitence.  I have only been inside Corus proper once, and I may have sidetracked the both of us."

 

"Don't worry about it."  One of Kate's eyebrows had lowered, but she couldn't hide the undeniably curious expression on her face as she glanced back over at Jonas.  "Have a seat."

 

Billy ushered Jonas onto the bench, and both of them slid over until Jonas was across from Cassie, who flashed him a bit of a shy smile, and Billy from Kate, who nudged his shin with her boot.  "So, aren't you going to introduce us?"

 

"What?  Oh, right."  Billy grabbed one of the drinks and took a sip before gesturing a hand over in Kate's direction.  "Jonas, this is Katherine ha Minch.  She's one of the Queen's Ladies—they ride and shoot with Her Majesty when she needs support and protection."

 

Jonas inclined his head.  "I believe I've read of them recently.  It is a rather prestigious position, is it not?"

 

Kate just shrugged with a classy, polite smile.

 

"And this is Cassie Lang.  She's in the Queen's Riders—joined not too long ago, actually."

 

"And her father is the horsemaster of the riders.  He's training her to take over when he steps down," Kate chimed in, looking innocent.

 

Jonas's eyes lit up, and Kate allowed herself a small, satisfied smile at his reaction.  Trust a University mage to do this whenever magic was even hinted at.

 

"That means—are you a wildmage?  I've heard that nowadays they only give the position to those who can speak to horses—does that mean you and your father are?  I'd love to hear about it."

 

"Yeah," Cassie interrupted with a bit of a laugh, looking a little embarrassed.  "We can discuss the magic, if you'd like.  And you're a University student, or—"

 

" _Guys!_ "  The yell, crowed from across the tavern in a familiar voice, caused the entire company to whip their heads towards the door again, alarmed expressions on everyone's faces but Kate's, who was wearing one of slight exasperation.

 

Three young men waded through the crowd.  The largest of the three, tall and blonde and muscular, with piercings in his ears and a smile on his face, did most of the work.  One of them, bald and with the darker skin indicative of native Carthakis, was glaring at the shortest of the group, who was pale and had hair so blonde that it looked white.  He was the one who had yelled, and was now bouncing a bit excitedly and _trying_ to nudge people out of the way and generally being spectacularly unhelpful.  After a few moments, the second boy just grabbed him and held him in front, forcing him to walk into a straight line and eliciting a noise of sulky protest.

 

"About time you got here."  Kate was giving them—mostly the white-haired one—critical looks, but when she got to the Carthaki, she couldn't keep her mouth from curving into a small smile, and he returned it.  "Jonas, this is Theodore of Macayhill, Elijah of Kennan, and Thomas of, er, Queenscove.

 

"CallmeTommy," the shortest one butted in with a grin, running a hand through his white hair.  He sidled over and tried to slide into the seat next to Kate, but nearly choked as Elijah grabbed him by the collar and pushed him aside with an eyeroll that was equal parts amused and exasperated.  By the time he had recovered, Elijah had sat next to Kate, lacing their fingers together under the table, and Theodore had already scooted in next to Billy, doing the same, leaving no room on either bench.

 

"Wow, thanks for leaving me no room," he sighed, a mournful expression on his face, but the rest of the company (except Jonas, who was watching him, alarmed) ignored him and tried not to laugh at his melodramatics.

 

"You can call me Teddy, Jonas, and Elijah usually goes by Eli," the blonde spoke up, only to grunt in surprise as Tommy _made_ more room next to him with an unrepentant and triumphant grin, squishing the three others perhaps more than he should have.

 

"It's a pleasure to meet you, ah… Teddy, Eli, and Tommy."  With a curious expression, he turned to Billy.  "Queenscove.  You two share a fief name.  Are you brothers?"

 

Teddy glanced over at Tommy as he felt his shoulders tense, and the rest of them shot him a quick, slightly awkward, look as well.

 

"Erm… sort of," Billy replied with a shrug.  "It's kind of complicated."

 

"I see.  Are you a mage as well?  The resemblance is striking, and you're the same age, correct?"

 

"Well."  Tommy shrugged and lifted a hand, and a few green sparks flickered around his fingers.  "I got the Gift, but it's not quite as powerful as Billy's or anything."

 

"And different colors as well.  How fascinating—and you didn't attend the University—you could be twins—"

 

"They're all squires, actually," Cassie spoke up quickly.  None of them wanted to go into the complexities of illegitimate children and scandal that occasionally came up with the Queenscove boys.  "But, um, you're a University student, right, Jonas?"

 

"Something like that," Billy spoke up quickly.  Tommy let out a choking noise that sounded a little bit like laughter, and his half-brother turned to glare.

 

"What?  I'm just saying—"

 

"That's enough, Tommy," Billy cut in, face reddening.

 

Eli eyed them both.  "Wait, what's going on?"

 

Tommy was grinning so widely his ears hurt.  "Oh, so you mean you _didn't_ tell them all about that accident you had a few weeks ago, trying to make those simulacra things."

 

There was an awkward pause as the rest of the group turned to eye Billy, then Jonas, than Billy again.

 

Billy slumped down into his seat sulkily, ignoring the arm that Teddy wrapped around his shoulders.  Tommy just snagged a drink and took a sip.

 

"Looks like someone's got some explaining to do," he singsonged.


End file.
